January 7, 2017

    AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

   An avalanche has killed a man near Bulgaria's Seven Lakes of Rila--story in article section  Net Pic

   Locally, no new avalanche activity observed yesterday.



   YESTERDAY:

    Natural and man made snow early Friday morning January 6, 2017.

    Light snow for most of the day with the occasional sucker hole.

    Satellite image from Saturday morning.

    Valley cloud at around noon.

    Some snow accumulation in the afternoon.

    Decent light in the alpine at times.

    Very thin cloud layer with very light snow fall.



WEATHER OBSERVATIONS:

Weather Observations for January 7, 2017: taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters   -14, Winds were 15-30 KPH SE   --Horstman Hut 
2180 meters   -13, Winds were 30-45 KPH SE   --Whistler Peak
1860 meters   -11, Winds were   5-10 KPH SE   --Rendevous
1835 meters     -9, Winds were 10-25 KPH ESE--Roundhouse
1650 meters   -10, 2 cm of new snow, 4 cm in 24 hrs, 185 cm Base, RH 86%  --Pig Alley
1550 meters   -10, 1 cm of new snow, 3 cm in 24 hrs, 100 cm Base, RH 75%  --Catskinner 

  660 meters     -7, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was -3.7, 0.4 mm of Precip recorded yest

    As of 07:00 Hrs this am we have scattered cloud and unlimited visibility.

FORECAST:

Unsettled for today with a mix of sun and cloud in a Southwest Flow aloft. Cloudier tonight but very little snow expected, with a flurry possible overnight. Sunday will begin with unsettled conditions, but a warm front will bring light/moderate snowfall by noon continuing into Monday.  As of now Tuesday will have a mix of sun and cloud before the cold high pressure builds for Wednesday into Thursday. The low is weakening which means less snow for our zone, colder temperatures return for Tuesday.
Guesstimates: trace to 1 cm by Sunday morning,  10-15 cm by Monday morning, 5-10 cm by Tuesday morning.

    IR image from this am. Split flow with moisture everywhere but over our zone.

    Low is slowly drifting West and weakening.

    Unsettled weather for today with cloudier skies later today, as a weak warm front moves onshore.

   Warmer and wetter frontal system for Sunday. Trowal will bring some decent snowfall Sunday night.

ARTICLES:

Man dies in an avalanche near Seven Lakes of Rila area: Bulgaria

Update on the avalanche fatality in Montana: Glacier National Park

Avalanche buries U.S. 50, Monarch Mtn. Closed: Colorado

Huge snowfall leads to avalanche danger: Powder

Whistler Spearhead Hut Project: Indiegogo

OBSERVATIONS:

Lee Lau Jan 6, 2017

Snow quality still worth getting out of bed for in the Cayoosh Pass area. SE aspects skied well. Wind effect in top of run at alpine. S aspects have solar crust.

Temps were -10 at valley bottom increasing to -8, -6 throughout day. Snowed approx 3 - 5 cms during day. Skies broken. Winds light.

    Film makers doing their thing.

    Wind sculptured tree bomb.

    A bit of blue, cold temperatures all day allowed for some serious snow production.

    Still cold, but much nicer temperatures than earlier in the week.

    Off piste skiing was quite nice.